WASHINGTON POST: Internet gambling, fees for electric vehicles, and higher tolls are among revenue options House leaders advanced to help pay for transportation costs and an education plan. Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat, announces a plan to raise more than $1 billion in revenue for K-12 education and transportation during a news conference with other House Democrats on Friday in Annapolis.
Democrats in the Maryland House of Delegates launched a $1.2 billion tax, toll and fee increase package Friday certain to hold the state’s budget hostage, escalating intraparty tensions over how to patch huge, mounting deficit projections not seen since the Great Recession.
The multipart proposal, structured to force state senators to haggle, seeks an amendment to the Maryland Constitution that would legalize and tax online poker and other internet gambling. An array of revenue-generating plans includes a new fee on electric vehicles, a higher tax burden for corporations, sales taxes on used car trade-ins, a new 75-cent fee on ride-share trips and higher tolls for out-of-state drivers, among other measures.
All together, the package aims to raise $525 million annually for a landmark education program that lawmakers passed without sustainable funding attached and an additional $675 million annually for transportation projects, both prized Democratic priorities imperiled in a stagnant economy. As it stands, the education program is projected to begin running out of cash in two years — and the state’s budget deficit is forecast to hit $4 billion in four.
